Main description:

Ancient Monuments and Modern Identities sets out to examine the role of archaeology in the creation of ethnic, national and social identities in 19th and 20th century Greece. The essays included in this volume examine the development of interpretative and methodological principles guiding the recovery, protection and interpretation of material remains and their presentation to the public. The role of archaeology is examined alongside prevailing perceptions of the past, and is thereby situated in its political and ideological context. The book is organized chronologically and follows the changing attitudes to the past during the formation, expansion and consolidation of the Modern Greek State. The aim of this volume is to examine the premises of the archaeological discipline, and to apply reflection and critique to contemporary archaeological theory and practice. The past, however, is not a domain exclusive to archaeologists. The contributors to this volume include prehistoric and classical archaeologists, but also modern historians, museum specialists, architectural historians, anthropologists, and legal scholars who have all been invited to discuss the impact of the material traces of the past on the Modern Greek social imaginary.

Contents:

List of Figures

List of Contributors

Editors' Preface

List of Abbreviations

Introduction: Ancient monuments and modern identities

Sofia Voutsaki

1. The provenance of Greek painted vases: disciplinary debates and modern identities in the early 19th century

Giovanna Ceserani

2. Travellers and ruins in the Spartan landscape: a ghost story

Paraskevas Matalas

3. The reception of J.J. Winckelmann by Greek scholarship during the formative stage of the Modern Greek state (1832-1862)

Irene Fatsea

4. The legal protection of antiquities in Greece and national identity

Daphne Voudouri

5. Displaying archaeology - exhibiting ideology in 19th and early 20th century Greek museums

Andromache Gazi

6. Archaeology and politics: The Greek-German Olympia excavations treaty, 1869-1875

Thanassis N. Bohotis

7. The Hellenization of the prehistoric past: the search for Greek identity in the work of Christos Tsountas

Sofia Voutsaki

8. 'The stamp of national life': plaster casts and their uses in Greece at the end of the 19th century

Alexandra Alexandri

9. Beyond the debt to Antiquity: constructing a national architecture for Modern Greece

Eleni Bastea

10. Are histories of archaeology good to think with?

Michael Fotiadis

11. Why should the state protect the cultural heritage? The answer offered by Greek law

Vassilis Voutsakis

Index